British Red Cross doctor kidnapped in Pakistan found beheaded

Source: Reuters

By Gul Yusufzai

QUETTA, Pakistan | Sun Apr 29, 2012 10:54am EDT

(Reuters) - The beheaded body of a kidnapped British doctor working for the International Committee of the Red Cross was found by the roadside on Sunday in the southwestern Pakistan city of Quetta, police and Red Cross officials said.

Khalil Rasjed Dale, 60, was abducted by suspected militants on January 5 while on his way home from work.

"The ICRC condemns in the strongest possible terms this barbaric act," ICRC Director-General Yves Daccord said in a statement. "All of us at the ICRC and at the British Red Cross share the grief and outrage of Khalil's family and friends."

Police discovered Dale wrapped in plastic near a western bypass road in the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province where Baluch separatist militants are fighting a protracted insurgency for more autonomy.

6. Evil people, who did this. Evil. nt

8. Every time I think of the death of a doctor...

...I cannot help but imagine an ever-expanding web of tragedy as the career of a life-saver is cut short.

Ending the life of a doctor also ends the lives of an indeterminate number of others who will not receive that doctor's life-saving attention. The same idea applies to all humans, but not all humans are specifically trained to heal others.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is appealing to the Pakistani media not to broadcast a video of the execution of the kidnapped British aid worker Khalil Dale, which his killers have threatened to release.

Dale's body was discovered on Sunday, dumped in an orchard in Quetta, the restless southern city where the 60-year-old British nurse had been working as a health programme manager before he was seized by armed men in January.

Officials in Quetta said a note had been left with his corpse saying: "This is the body of Khalil who we have slaughtered for not paying a ransom".

It also said a video of the moment Dale's throat was cut would soon be released.